Our wish list for Christmas

Posted
Thursday, December 19, 2013 2:22 pm

Dear Santa:

We here at the Heralds have been hard at work all year, keeping readers up to date on all things local — government, education, business, crime, sports and culture. If you don’t mind, we’ve put together a Christmas list of our own, of “gifts” for the season in the form of changes here on the South Shore that we’d like to see finally come to pass. We realize you’re only one man (no offense to the elves), so feel free to share this with our local leaders in the hope that, by this time next year, we’ll see some of these wishes fulfilled.

Safe travels next week.

—The Herald editorial staff

The sewage plantsNow that the County Legislature has approved a total of $725 million for repairs at the Bay Park and Cedar Creek sewage treatment plants, we hope that major projects — fixing the Bay Park plant’s electrical system and protecting it against another devastating storm — will be done quickly and with oversight, so the public knows what’s going on and can follow the progress of the work.

The HubThe $229 million redevelopment of the Nassau Coliseum by Forest City Ratner is not set to begin until 2015 — and won’t be completed until 2017. We’d like to see the county begin rejuvenating the area before then, by recruiting high-tech industries to attract young people and, just as important, by brainstorming ways to connect the Hub area with the surrounding landmarks, including Eisenhower Park, Museum Row, Hofstra University and Nassau Community College.

Consolidating servicesIn a speech earlier this month, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that he would favor tax cuts for communities that consolidate services to save taxpayers money. That makes sense to us, and we encourage local South Shore communities to join forces with their neighbors on such services as school administration, firefighting, sanitation and government.

Common Core and InBloomIt seems clear that everybody, with the exception of the State Education Department, understands just how contentious the rollout of the Common Core State Standards and the testing associated with them has become. The education bureaucracy should heed the call of the state PTA to delay the program for a year, to give teachers and students breathing room to allow for planning and training.